Improvement in flutes



tlatlml startet OSCAR J. e. WARDRUM, oi? CHICAGo, ILLiNols.

Lettfrs Patent No. 94,795, dated September 14, 1869.

IMPROVEMENT IN FLUTES.

The Schedule referred to in these Letters Patent and making part of the same.

To all whom it may concern Be it known that I, OSCAR J. G. WARDRUM, of the city of Chicago, in the county of Cook, and State of Illinois, have invented certain new and use l'ul Im-A provements in Flutes; and I do hereby declare that the following is a full, clear, and exact description thereof, reference being had to the accompanying drawings, making a part of this specification.

' The drawings show the middle section of a flute, without the upper and lower sections, which, being made in the usual way, are notshown.

The nature ofmyinvention consists in a new arrangement ofthe openings and stops, so as to make all ofthe openings or holes equidistant and of the same size, .thereby improving the tonehofV the flute by giving each sound or tone an equal vent, and also in so arranging the keysthat the fingering will be the saine, or so near the same as the ordinary German flute, that a change from one to the other will not require any changeof fingering.

To enable others skilled in the art to make and use 'my invention, I will proceed to describe its construetion and operation.

In the drawings- A X represents the middle section of a flute, or as they are sometimes made, the two middle sections. In this the openings are all located the same distance from each other, and -are of the same size.A

The drawing represents a metallic ute,with raised projections for the keys, but it may be made of wood, -and the raised projections omitted.

Ou the sides ofthe flute are rods yu,.supported by posts @,similar to the Boehm flute. Cn theserods small cylinders or tubes k, l, mnt, o, p, q, r, and t, are placed, as shwn. t is not necessarily a tube, as it may be made solid, with simple bearings in its supporting- Josts. i l The keys and stops are attached to these cylinders by the arms 1, or by other suitable connections', and the keys a, b, @,and f, may, if desired, he attached directly to the stops.

Suitable return-springs for the stops are also attached, one of which is shown at s.

In operation, key a. operates the stop 1; l), stops 3 au'd 4; c, stops 5 and 6;A d, stop 7 e, stops 8 and 9;

j, Stop. 10; w, stop 11; g, stop 12,; lh orj, stop 13;

and i, stop 2. The tones produced are indicated by the red lett-ers.

` By this arrangement of the stops and keys, it will he seen that the stops 4 and 11, 6 and 12, and 9 and 13, are not what are usually called choose-keys, for the reason thatv the keys or stops 11, 12, and 13, are

used when it is desired to produce the semitones, and

4, 6, and 9 are lonly used forl giving equality of vent and space.

Stop 13 is operated by the little linger of the left hand at h, or by the third finger of the right hand at j, as may he desired.

lhis arrangement ofthe stops', while it does not change the mode of fingering from that of the common German lute, enables me to give a fullness and equality of tone, not produced in that instrument, for in that the equalization of the tones is, to a certain extent, equalized by making thelinger-holes of unequal sizes, and placing them at ditierent distances from each other, which arrangement includes somany conditions that it is necessarily iinpeifect.

These diiculties. are overcomein the Boehm ute, butin that the arrangement of keys is such that 'a new systemv of fingering is required, so that, instead of taking the place of the German ute, it is recognized and used as a new and distinct instrument.

By my arrangement, I combine the fullness and equality of tone of the Boehm flute, with the ease of fingering the German ute',so that any person, having leamed the use either ofthe German flute or my improved one, can use the other with equal facility.

Having thus fully described myimproved flute,

. What l claim as new, and desire to secure by Letters.1)atcnt,-isj

1. The combination and arrangement of the stops or openings 1 to 10,' inclusive, so as to give an equal `vent to each toueand semitone, substantially as specified.

tially as and for the-purposes`described.

OSCAR Jl G. VVARDRUM. i

IVitnesses:

L. L. BOND, E. A. WnsT. 

